Folding table or bench



UNITED STATES RUFUS CARTER, JR., OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOLDING TABLE OR BENCH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 49,500. dated August 22, 1865.

To all whom fit may concern.-

Beit known that I, RUEUs CARTER, Jr., of Lawrence, in the county ot' Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Folding Table or Bench;

and I do declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon.

Figure l represents a longitudinal side view of bench when in use. 'Figrepresents an end -section of same. Fig.3represents an interior crosssection. Fig. 4 represen ts a bench folded up. Fig.5 represents a bench partiallyfolded. Fig. Grepresents the legs framed into the plate. Fig. 7 represents a side view ot' bench folded.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

I first select a piece of plank, A, of the dep sired length, width, and thickness, and to prevent it from warping I nail or screw on the cleats B at each end of the plank, on the under side of the same, the grain of the cleats B to run in the opposite direction ofthe grain in the plankA. I then fit the plate C and make mortises near each end ot' it to receive thetenons on the end of each leg l). I then drive the tenons on the ends of thelegs into the mortises .in the plate O and fasten them in with pins.

my bench stand rmly when in use under a load, I prepare two braces for each bench and attach them by butts to the under side of the plank A,at\the points G, and pass one toward one end of the plank and the othertoward the other end and through au aperture in each roller E, and are made to move freely through said roller, and as the bench is folded and unfolded these braces move along in the rollers E, while the rollers E turn on their` axles as the folding and unfolding proceeds, and having provided a piu, Il, to be attached toeach roller E and intended to pass down through the rollers E and through the braces F, so as t to keep the braces firmly xed when the bench is in use. The bench is then completed.

When the table or bench is in use it stands as in Fig. l, and when it is folded as in Figs.4 and 7.

By myinvention is produced a folding washbench, which has long been wanted, which can be folded up andJlaid away in a small place, offering a convenient articleof furniture to people who live in the upper stories of houses, in small tenements with limited room, as it can be folded up and made to stand against the side of the room or in a'corner, thereby taking up little or no valuable room.

I claiml The combination of the top A, the plates C, the legs D, the rollers E, and braces F, constructed substantiallyr as herein set forth, for the purpose specified.

RUEUs CARTER, JR. [1.. s]

Witnesses:

J AMEs K. BARKEE, E. D. HAYES. 

